A commonly known type of harness making machine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,600 which issued Dec. 16, 1986 to Gordon, et al. and which is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth verbatim herein. The machine of Gordon feeds a single wire, taken from a so-called "endless source," such as a reel of wire, to a cutting station for cutting into segments. Each segment receives a terminal on one end, which is crimped in place in the usual manner, and the other end is inserted into a cavity of a connector housing When the desired number of discrete wire segments are prepared and inserted into the connector housing, the completed assembly is ejected and the process repeated for the desired number of times. Machines of this type are capable of feeding only a single wire and are not capable of selecting a wire of a particular type from a plurality of available wires and feeding that selected wire. U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,934, issued Nov. 14, 1989 to Adlon, et al. and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth verbatim herein. This patent discloses such a selective wire feeding device. The feeding device accommodates six different wires, any one of which may be selected and fed by a two belt feeding mechanism. The fed wire passes through a single wire passageway to a harness making machine for processing. When a wire segment of the desired length is severed, the stub remaining on the source side of the wire is retracted back into the single wire passageway so that one of the other wires may be subsequently selected and fed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,761, which issued Oct. 4, 1988 to Reinertz discloses a wire selection and feed apparatus having pivotal arcuate wire guiding segments. Each segment has a series of holes which are formed on a given radius from the pivot and arranged to receive wires therethrough, one wire in each hole of a segment. Each hole of one segment is in alignment with corresponding holes in the other segments so that each wire may be threaded through an appropriate hole in each segment. A belt feed apparatus is positioned between two of the segments so that as the segments are pivoted, each wire in turn may be brought into feeding engagement with the belt feed apparatus.
One problem associated with both of these wire selection and feeding devices is that in order to prepare the end of the wire for termination the wire must be firmly clamped and the stripping and cutting tool closed about the wire and then withdrawn in an axial direction to remove the insulation. This results in a complex wire stripping and cutting mechanism. Additionally, the device of Reinertz requires a mechanism to transport the end of the wire from the last wire guide segment to the wire stripping and cutting mechanism and to a press for subsequent termination.
The present invention overcomes these drawbacks by providing a wire holder for each wire that is threaded into the wire selector. The selector having the ability to advance the holder of a selected wire to present the end of the wire to a work station, and to withdraw the wire end by withdrawing the holder.